“Savvy,” I gasp.
“I’m joking.” She squeezes my hand. “Mostly. If anything’s wrong, tell us you hate celery and we’ll know to send in the cavalry. How are you guys getting there with Wrecks?”
“Celery?”
She waves me off. “I’m on a lot of pain meds. That’s what I could think of. It works.”
“O-kay. We’re driving. It’ll take us a while.” My voice cracks. “Sav, I haven’t left Happiness since I got here.”
“I know.” She’s watching me carefully, ready to jump in with a solution at a moment’s notice, but I appreciate that she allows me to get this out.
“And you’re still?—”
“Stop.” Her voice is fierce now. “Clover, listen to me. You’ve been living half a life for as long as I’ve known you. Surviving is not living, my friend. And now, someone is handing you a key to finally let go of your past. Now is the time to take chances.”
“What about you, though?” I ask.
“We’ll be here when you come home. Grey’s here for me. Madi and Elle and this town are here. We’re not going anywhere. But you—you need to go face this. Get your answers. Excavate your past so you can finally put it to rest.”
“I’m scared,” I whisper.
“Good. Brave people are always scared. They just do it anyway.” She pulls me into a careful hug. “Besides, you’ve got a scary-looking man out there scowling at me. What does he think I’m going to do? Hold you hostage?” She smirks. “And you’ve got Chief, who—according to town legend—has already fought not one but two bears for you.”
I chuckle and then reach for a tissue.
“Ghosts can’t hurt you, Clover. Unresolved memories do though. Get your closure. I don’t know anyone who deserves that more than you.”
“What if something happens to you while I’m gone?”
“It won’t, but if it does, we’ll call you.”
“I love you,” I tell her.
“I love you too. Now go.” She gently pushes me toward the door. “Go tackle your past so you can have your future because that man in the hallway? The one pacing a hole in the floor? Don’t let fear steal that from you. You deserve that kind of love.”
I don’t trust myself to speak, so I flash her a watery smile, then reach into my pocket and pull out the one thing I cherish more than anything else and place it in her hand.
“For healing…or luck,” I say.
She turns over the small wooden carving, no bigger than a quarter, worn smooth by years of touching.
It’s a tiny bumble bee that Valen made for me when we were children.
“Clover.” Savvy bites her bottom lip. She knows how much this means to me—even if she didn’t always understand why.
“I just… It got me through a lot, and if I’m not here with you, I want you to know I’m still thinking of you.”
“But this…”
I smile. “It’s on loan while I spread my wings.”
She nods, closing her fingers around my touchstone, and I exit her room.
Valen stops pacing the instant the door shuts behind me. “Well?”
“She told me to go kick ass.”
His expression blinds me with his relief. “That’s my girl.” He pauses, his face paling and his eyebrow twitching as he backtracks. “Both of you? Ah, you’re both, um, my girls?”
